


Small Things and Big Plans

by hotcookinmama



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Comfort, Established Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak, F/M, Felicity as the main character, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Minor Angst, Mystery, Olicity Fic Bang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-09 19:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5552570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotcookinmama/pseuds/hotcookinmama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Oliver and Felicity drove off into the sunset at the end of Arrow Season 3, they didn’t expect to be back in Starling City a week later for a funeral. They also certainly didn’t expect to have to stay in Starling to clear their names from involvement in a suspicious death. Small things lead to big discoveries and bigger plans in this what-happened-during-the-summer-hiatus speculation story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the fine folks who created the @olicityficbang project. After having a blast editing several Arrow fanfic stories over the past year, I had toyed around with writing my own Arrow fanfic. The Olicity Fic Bang project pushed me over the edge and into the glorious abyss of fic writing! Thank you for rekindling the joy of writing for me!!! 
> 
> Thank you also to my wonderful team: my cheerleader @lerayon (for helping me stay on track and motivated), my editor / beta reader Rose @osiriaroses (for catching my typos and helping me capture Felicity’s voice), and my amazing artist Tatiana @santagotsmoaked. Tatiana finished the artwork in the midst of a hospital stay this week! Then she stayed up late helping me tweak it so it would be ready to post on time. Thanks!!!! If you're only seeing this on AO3, check out my Tumblr page (hotcookinmama) to see the artwork.
> 
> Thank you also for my inspiration: Lou @louiseblue1, Jen @jbuffyangel and Janis @so-caffeinated. I would have never, ever considering writing this story if it hadn’t been for you amazing, wonderful ladies & authors. You have been so encouraging and supportive. I have been blessed to have you in my life. Be sure to look for the Easter eggs I’ve included for each of you in this story. You each have one that I created with you in mind.

The ringing phone jolted them back to reality. 

A week ago Oliver and Felicity had left Starling City on their quest for a new life. Their first night they came upon a secluded resort in view of the coast but away from just about everything else. After a day in bed letting the cares of the past three years fade away in their embraces, they finally came up for air to get some food. While Oliver called for room service, Felicity checked her phone. No service. Well, they _had_ wanted to get away from it all. It made her a little nervous being unplugged, but Oliver was glad to be unreachable. He needed the peace and quiet. He needed time to decompress. He needed time to just be with Felicity and be happy. He didn’t need reminders of what they were leaving behind. 

After a week of this seclusion, however, Felicity got antsy. She loved being with Oliver. She loved having his complete attention for the first time ever. She loved falling asleep with his arms around her and waking up to his kisses. She loved really being a couple and not having a care in the world other than what they were going to do for dinner. After a week, though, she found herself wondering what they were going to do for the rest of their lives. They couldn’t just live at this beautiful resort, watching the ocean, drinking mojitos and making love forever, could they? 

Entwined in each other's arms one night, Felicity voiced her concerns. The next day they decided to continue their journey and see where else the road could take them. About an hour after they started driving, the phone reminded them they were closer to civilization. It was Thea.

“Oh, thank God! Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you for days.” 

“What’s wrong?” Oliver answered.

“Is Felicity there too?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Put me on speaker so I can tell both of you.”

Oliver pulled over to the side of the road and hit the speaker button. “Ok, we’re both here. What’s going on?”

“I don't how to tell you other than to just come out with it.” Thea paused, collecting herself. “There’s been an accident. One of the top floors of dad’s building, well, the Palmer Technologies building, exploded. It was your old offices, where we had gathered after the battle with Ra's.”

“Oh my gosh,” Felicity responded. “What happened? Was anyone hurt?” 

“It happened on a Sunday morning, so they don’t know for certain if anyone was there.”

“What do you mean ‘for certain’? Even on a Sunday, security should know who is in the building. They should know.” 

“Well, they haven’t found any bodies…” Thea said cautiously. 

“Thea… was Ray there?” Felicity asked, her voice breaking with worry. “Was he?”

“Possibly… I’m so sorry, Felicity. Security has him entering his lab about 2 hours before the explosion.” She paused again. “They can’t find him. I’m so sorry. The police think he was killed.” 

Felicity threw her hands to her face and gasped. Oliver wrapped his arms around her as she started to silently sob. 

“Thea,” Oliver said, “do they know what caused it? Any indication that someone did this? Was Ray targeted? Were we targeted? Did someone know we used those offices?”

“I don’t know. I don't know….” she said frustrated. “Like I said, they think it was an accident. The explosion originated in Ray’s lab. The weird thing is there were very strange remains. Instead of things being blown to bits, most things were just crushed by the top floor falling onto the exploding floor. And a lot of things are just missing completely. They can’t even find fragments of most of Ray’s lab, and they didn’t find any bomb residue either. It’s hard to piece together what happened… I’m so sorry, Felicity.” 

“Thanks for letting us know, Thea.” Felicity responded. “Sorry to have been out-of-touch this past week. Is… is there anything we can do?” she sniffled. “Are they already planning a funeral?”

“Yes, there’s a memorial service the day after tomorrow. Will you be coming back for it?”

“I don’t know,” Oliver responded. “We’ll talk about it.”

“Okay.”

“Take care, Thea,” said Felicity. “Thanks for letting us know. We’ll get back to you soon.” 

With that, they hung up, and Felicity let out a few louder sobs. Oliver held her and just let her cry for a few minutes before talking again. 

Softly and calmly, he asked, “Do you want to go back?” 

“I’m sorry. I know that you wanted to be away, and I wanted to be away with you, but I think I really need to go back. I’ve lost so many people in the past year, and I haven’t been able to have a proper funeral for any of them. I think I need this.”

“I don’t really want to go back, but I know you need to. If it hadn’t been for Palmer and his suit, I’d be dead. If you want to go back, we’ll go together,” he said as he brushed the hair from her face. 

“Thank you,” she said holding him a little tighter. She was very grateful that he understood her need to return. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” Oliver started the car and turned in the direction of Starling City.

 

->->->->->->

 

“Ms. Smoak?” 

“Yes?” Walking out of the funeral home after the service, Felicity didn’t want to talk to anyone. She turned to see a tall, sharply dressed man she vaguely remembered to be a member of Palmer Technologies’ legal department.

Wiping away a few stray tears, she looked up at him and asked “Can I help you?”

“Ms. Smoak, Mr. Queen, I’m Sheldon Diehl, an attorney with Palmer Technologies. I’m sorry to disturb you at the memorial service, but I haven’t been able to reach you.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been a bit off-the-grid lately.” Trying to figure out why Palmer Tech Legal needed to talk to her, she asked, “Is there a problem with my resignation? Is there anyway we deal with this tomorrow instead?” She was emotionally spent from the last 48 hours of traveling and grieving. All she wanted to do was open a bottle of red wine and take a long, hot bath. She certainly did not feel like talking to a lawyer. 

“No, it’s not a problem with your resignation and, no, we really can’t deal with this tomorrow. I need to discuss with you the Transfer of Ownership papers you signed,” said Mr. Diehl. 

“The what? I signed what?”

“The Transfer of Ownership papers, Ms. Smoak. Mr. Palmer filed them with my office a few days before he died.” 

“What Transfer of Ownership papers?” 

“The ones you signed, of course.”

“Felicity… what did you sign?” asked Oliver. 

“I… um… I don’t know. Ray had me sign something a couple weeks ago just before we came to see you, you know… um… overseas.” They were still standing in front of this lawyer so she couldn’t exactly elaborate about their trip to Nanda Parbat. “I didn’t read it. He just said it was some corporate stuff.” Turning to the lawyer, she said cautiously, “What exactly did I sign, and what does that mean?”

“It means you now own Mr. Palmer’s shares in Palmer Technologies.” 

“Uh… nope. That can’t be.”

“Yes, it can be, and you do own a majority stock in the company.”

“What?” She looked at Oliver. “What?” 

“Ms. Smoak, the corporate bylaws state that in the event of the death of the CEO, an emergency board of directors meeting must be called within 1 week. That means we must have a board meeting tomorrow, and you will need to be there. The board of directors will need to select a new CEO.” 

Felicity just stared at him, mouth slightly ajar. She felt the room spinning and everything go numb. Oliver realized what was happening, put his arm around her and quickly led her to a nearby chair. 

“Ms. Smoak, the meeting is scheduled for 10 am in the 2nd floor conference room. I’ll see you there.” With that, Mr. Diehl walked away, leaving Felicity and Oliver stunned. 

 

->->->->->->

 

In silence, Oliver unlocked the door to the loft and led Felicity inside. She was still numb and entered the loft almost as if she were sleepwalking. 

“Thea said she wouldn’t be back until about 3 am,” Oliver said. “She said it would be fine if we stayed here for a few days. She’s glad to have us back.”

“Uh huh,” Felicity answered mindlessly. 

“Would you rather go back to your apartment? Would you be more comfortable there?”

“Hmmm?” she looked up without really focusing on him. 

He led her to the couch and sat down with her. “Felicity, are you okay?”

“Okay? Okay? I am so very NOT okay. I don’t even know where ‘okay’ is. We left ‘okay’ back at the resort yesterday. ‘Okay’ is something I can’t even comprehend right now.”

“Okay, okay,” he said wrapping his arm around her, and she leaned into his chest. “I’ll be your ‘okay’. We’ll deal with this together… okay?” 

With that the sobs came again, and he just let her cry while he held her. 

 

->->->->->->

 

“Oliver, I can’t do this.” Felicity said as they got into one of the elevators of the old Queen Consolidated building. 

“Yes, you can. I believe in you.”

“What the hell am I doing?” 

“You’re walking into that room as the majority shareholder of my former company. You’ll be brilliant.”

“Ugh. I’m glad you think so.”

“You’ve always known more about running this company than I did.” Oliver said stepping off the elevator and walking towards the conference room. They were met by the same corporate lawyer they had seen yesterday at the memorial service.

“Good to see you again, Ms. Smoak,” said Mr. Diehl politely as they started to walk into the room. “I’m sorry, Mr. Queen, you’ll have to wait out here. You are no longer a member of the Board of Directors.”

“Oh… okay,” Oliver stopped.

Felicity grabbed his arm to continue walking. “No, he’s coming with me. He’s uh… my… uh… assistant. Yeah, my assistant! When he was CEO and I was his assistant, I was allowed to come to board meetings,” said Felicity gaining confidence. “So, yeah, he’s my assistant.” 

Oliver leaned over to Felicity and whispered “Excuse me? Your assistant?”

She whispered back, “Please, Oliver, just go with it.” Turning back to the attorney, she asked, “So, may we enter?”

“Right this way, Ms. Smoak, Mr. Queen,” the lawyer said with a slight sneer in his voice. 

They immediately felt the stares of everyone in the room. At that moment, Felicity realized how strange this must seem to the other board members. She was having a hard time wrapping her brain around it as well. Just three years ago, she was just an IT girl. Amidst water-cooler whispers, she became Oliver’s executive assistant. Next thing anyone knows, Oliver’s out, Ray’s in and then Ray made her a VP. Then — surprise, surprise — eight months later, Ray gave her his shares and died. How dare he? Why did he leave her in this situation? Wouldn’t he know how this would look? Now, she’s walking into this boardroom, the majority shareholder, with Oliver Queen in tow. What must these people think of her? Do they think she’s a joke? The mistress? A king maker? Oh no… a killer? What must this look like?

Oliver squeezed her arm gently, and Felicity gave her head a little shake. She had to get out of that headspace. She wallowed in that enough last night. She took a deep breath, sat down at the table and gave a polite smile to everyone in the room. 

“Thank you all for joining us today on such short notice,” announced Mr. Diehl. “As you know, this emergency meeting has been called for the purpose of appointing an interim CEO after the death of Mr. Palmer. Would anyone like to make a statement?”

“Well, the new CEO is certainly not going to be either of them,” stated a harsh-looking woman in her mid-fifties. She nodded in the direction of Oliver and Felicity. “This company has been a joke for the past 2 years ever since they got involved. Oliver, no offense, but you are not your father. Ms. Smoak, I have no reason to trust you at all. I don’t know what any of your qualifications are other than being”, she paused considering her words carefully, “intimately acquainted with two of our past CEOs.”

With that slight, Oliver stood up glaring and looking for a fight. Felicity tried to pull him back down again. 

“Ms. Henderson, I object to your insinuations,” said Oliver. “Felicity is the most brilliant, dedicated, innovative, and amazing person I know. She did NOT sleep her way to the top.”

“No, Oliver,” she half chuckled, “whatever it was that she was doing, I don’t believe she was sleeping. Do you actually deny that she has been in a relationship with both you and Mr. Palmer?” 

“Well…” Oliver stuttered.

“Oliver, please,” Felicity responded, tugging on his arm to sit down again. “Ms. Henderson, is it?” Felicity said turning to the woman. “I do not deny that I have been in a relationship with both men. To set the record straight, however, my romantic relationship with Mr. Palmer was rather short-lived and began several months after I became Vice President. My romantic relationship with Mr. Queen really only started nine days ago. We have been friends and co-workers for several years, but only recently started a committed romantic relationship… not that it’s really any of your business, Ms. Henderson.”

“It is my business, young lady, if you intend on running this company,” she responded. “You may have a majority of shares, but, as I said before, we have no reason to trust you. The board does not have to allow you to take over as CEO. We can legally fight this transfer of ownership. From what I understand, you were in a relationship with Mr. Palmer for several months. Toward the end of this relationship, he signed over his shares of the company to you. Not long after, he submitted the form with HR stating that you had resigned. On that very day, his lab exploded. He went missing — presumed dead — and then it was discovered that you were also missing. When you did show up at the memorial, you arrived arm-in-arm with our past CEO, Oliver Queen. Do you have any idea how that looks? Frankly, don’t be surprised if you receive a visit from an SCPD detective soon, Ms. Smoak.” 

Oliver started to jump up again, but Felicity patted his arm, and he stayed in place. 

“Ms. Henderson,” Felicity responded, “I know it must look strange. I’m more surprised than anyone that Ray signed his shares over to me. We had broken up shortly before he gave me the papers to sign. I honestly didn’t know what those papers were when I signed them.” She sighed, frustrated and flustered. She was being accused of something she didn’t do and didn’t know how to convince this woman otherwise. “I know you have no reason to believe me, but I don’t know what happened to him. I don’t know what caused the explosion. We were out of town at the time… without a cell signal. We didn’t know about the explosion until Oliver’s sister reached us the day before yesterday.”

“You mean to tell me that you — until very recently, the Vice President of Applied Sciences and Mr. Palmer’s girlfriend — knew nothing of what Mr. Palmer was doing in his lab?”

“I didn’t say that…”  
Ms. Henderson continued without letting Felicity talk. “In the past week, we’ve been auditing the Applied Sciences division and Mr. Palmer’s operating expenses. There are some very unusual acquisitions and, quite frankly, I believe, some misdirected funds. Something hinky was going on in that lab, and we deserve to know what it was.” 

Felicity knew exactly the kind of hinky stuff that was going on in that lab. Of course, the board didn’t know anything about the A.T.O.M. suit. They must have heard rumors about the airborne inoculate after the league’s outbreak — that at least had been on the news — but they certainly didn’t know what else Ray had been up to in that lab. What else was Ray up to? What had caused that explosion? Felicity had been so distraught from grieving, she hadn’t given this mystery any thought. She felt the cobwebs start to clear from her brain as she began to run through what she knew of Ray's experiments, her brain racing to put the pieces together.

“Ms. Henderson,” Felicity paused to look around the room, “and the rest of the board, something certainly happened in that lab, and it is my intention to find out exactly what that was. Ray was a friend, and he deserves to have this mystery solved.” 

“Well, that’s all well and good, Ms. Smoak,” answered Ms. Henderson, “but that still leaves us with our primary problem at hand. We need to name a CEO, or at least an interim CEO until we can do a proper search. I doubt anyone on this board is willing to hand you the keys to this company.”

Under her breath, Felicity turned to Oliver and said, “What about Walter?” Oliver raised an eyebrow with curious approval and shrugged. 

“What about Walter Steele?” Felicity voiced aloud to the board. “Walter has a long history with this company. He did a fantastic job leading QC before his abduction. He may be willing to do it again. He’s at least someone this board trusts.”

“Well, Ms. Smoak, you may have found a good solution to our immediate problem,” said Mr. Diehl. “Mr. Queen, are you willing to contact him and see if he is willing to serve in this capacity again? I believe the two of you are close.” 

Looking rather dumbfounded to be put in this position, Oliver responded, “I wouldn’t say that we’re close, but we are fond of each other. I’ll see what I can do.” 

“I suggest we recess until after lunch for Mr. Queen to contact Mr. Steele,” replied Mr. Diehl. “We’ll reconvene at 1:30. Thank you all.”

With that, the board members stood and started walking out. Ms. Henderson stopped by Felicity to look her up and down with a slightly haughty sneer. Dripping with mock politeness, she said, “Ms. Smoak, we’ll see you again this afternoon. I hope you can solve that mystery. Perhaps the SCPD will solve it before you do.” She walked out with her head held high. 

“Of all people!” Oliver raged when they were finally alone. Felicity looked at him in confusion. “Elizabeth Henderson was one of my mom’s friends. I certainly wasn’t expecting her to ambush you.” 

“It’s fine, Oliver, really,” she assured him. “When we walked into the room, I knew the accusations that would come. The circumstances looked questionable at best. Frankly, I think we got out of there better than I would have expected.” 

Oliver huffed. “Those people used to be my friends.” 

“Oliver, they may have been friends with your parents, but I don’t think they were ever truly your friends. Were they?”

Sighing, Oliver shook his head. “I guess not.” 

Thirty minutes later, Oliver and Felicity walked into Starling National Bank and asked to see Walter Steele. Ten minutes after that, they were being ushered into Walter’s office.

“Oliver, Felicity, to what do I owe the pleasure? This is certainly a surprise.” Walter looked good. He looked happy and relaxed. Being at the bank was apparently agreeing with him.

Oliver shook his hand. “Walter, we need your help.”

“Certainly. What can I do?”

“Well,” Felicity started, “somehow I’m now the majority shareholder for Palmer Technologies. You know what used to be Queen Consolidated… where you were my boss? So, somehow, I’m now, sort of… the boss, but they really don’t want me. Well, they think I had something to do with my old boss — not you, and,” turning to Oliver, “not him either — my most recent old boss, his disappearance or death or whatever happened… which I most certainly did not have anything to do with… I don’t think.”

Oliver rubbed her arm to help calm her nervousness. He hadn’t seen her ramble like that in months. Seeing Walter again must have brought it back up again. 

“I’m quite well aware of the explosion that claimed Mr. Palmer’s life,” Walter replied. “I only met him at a couple of charity functions but he seemed like a very jovial person. You have my condolences.” 

“Thank you.”

“So, am I to understand that you are now the majority shareholder in Palmer Technologies, but the board does not want you to serve at CEO?”

“Yes, that is correct. Quite frankly, I’m not really interested in the position right now either.” 

“But the company needs someone,” Oliver interjected still not bringing himself to use the Palmer Technologies name for the company founded by his father. “Walter, we’d be honored if you came back to the company. The board trusts your leadership, and we do too.” 

“Well, that’s a pretty big decision.” 

“Would you at least be willing to meet the board this afternoon and entertain the offer?” asked Oliver. 

“Yes. For you two, I will do that. I can’t see myself leaving the bank permanently, but I’ll come to the meeting.”

“Thank you,” Oliver responded. “They will be meeting at 1:30 in the second-floor conference room. We’ll see you then.”

“I’ll see you then,” said Walter. As Felicity and Oliver made their way to the door, Walter spoke again. “If you don’t mind my asking, Oliver, what has happened? You seem so different from the last time we saw each other. It’s as if a giant burden has lifted from your shoulders.” 

Oliver looked at Felicity and smiled. “It has. A lot has changed. Felicity has shown me that I really have something to live for, and that has made all the difference. I feel like I have finally left the island.” Felicity beamed at his words. 

“Well, that is very good news, Oliver.” 

“Thank you, Walter. We’ll see you soon,” said Felicity, and they walked out the door. 

 

->->->->->->

 

“I still can’t believe this is happening,” lamented Felicity as Oliver brought their sandwiches over to the table. They had stopped for a quick bite to eat before returning to the board meeting. “Why did Ray do it, why did he leave me in this situation, and what the hell happened to him? I am NOT liking all these mysteries.”

“I never did understand Palmer,” responded Oliver. “I would think if anyone could get inside his head, it would be you.”

“I know. That’s what’s so puzzling about this,” she paused seemingly to steel herself up to say something else. Sighing, she said, “Maybe if I had been here…” her words trailing off and finally voicing the unspoken guilt she had carried for the past few days. 

“Don’t,” he replied. “Don’t do that to yourself. If anyone is an expert at blaming himself for others’ deaths, it’s me. Felicity, please,” he pleaded, “don’t go down that road. Don’t do that to yourself.”

They sat there in silence for a few moments. Oliver could tell she wanted to say something else. He wasn’t sure if she was figuring out what to say or gathering the courage to say it.

“You want to stay for a while longer, don’t you?” asked Oliver. “You need to stay to solve this mystery.” 

“Yes,” she responded sheepishly. “Oliver, I’m so sorry. I know you want to get away from this place as fast as possible, and I don’t blame you. I don’t want to ask you to stay, but I don’t want you to leave me here either. I don’t know what to do. You wanted a fresh start, and I’ve dragged you back into this.”

“You haven’t dragged me anywhere. I’m here to support you,” he sighed and reached his hand to cover hers. “I’m not here to fight bad guys. I’m not here to find justice. I’m not here to save the city. I’m not even here to be anyone’s hero… except yours.” He flashed her that million-dollar smile that made her melt inside. “I’ll be fine.”

Felicity sighed and smiled back. She still couldn’t believe they were really together, and he wasn’t being spooked away by this situation. Whatever what going to happen next, they would face it together.


	2. Chapter 2

Two hours after their lunch, Felicity and Oliver walked out of the boardroom pleased with the results. Starling National had agreed to help protect their substantial investment in Palmer Technologies by granting Walter a leave of absence, and Walter agreed to be the interim CEO for Palmer Tech for the next three months. That would give the board three months to conduct a search for a permanent CEO and give Felicity some breathing room. 

“Ms. Smoak, may I have a word?” asked the attorney, Mr. Diehl. “We have some additional paperwork we need from you.”

“Uh, ok. Sure.” What now, she wondered. Felicity was starting to dread each time the man spoke to her. He motioned for her to join him in a side office. 

“I’ve already filled out most of the required details on these forms, Ms. Smoak, but we do need your bank account information.”

“My bank account information?” Felicity was suspicious. Why did they need her bank info? She had hacked into enough people’s bank accounts to know that people’s secrets can be discovered that way. 

“Yes, your bank account information. Officers in the company get their dividends direct deposited. We can’t do that without your bank account information.”

“Ooooo-key…” she responded, still somewhat suspicious. “Oliver, is that right?”

“Oh yeah. That’s standard,” he said not concerned at all.

The attorney handed Felicity the papers. She sat down at the desk to fill them out while Oliver sat down in a facing chair. Just as she was finishing them and handing them back to the attorney, Captain Quentin Lance walked in. 

“Just who I was looking to find… Ms. Smoak, a minute of your time, please,” Lance requested. 

“Sure, Detect… um… Captain.” 

“Without him,” Lance said, nodding towards Oliver. Oliver rose in protest, but Lance continued, “I’d rather you not have the chance to get your stories straight.” 

“What is that supposed to mean?” Oliver growled while crossing his arms. 

“It means, I don’t trust you. No surprise there. The SCPD has been asked to investigate Ms. Smoak’s recent inheritance and Mr. Palmer’s mysterious death. You certainly seem like an interested party in this case, so I will interview both of you… separately. Wait outside, Queen.”

“Unless you’re placing either one of us under arrest, you don’t have the right to do that. You can either talk to both of us at the same time or you can talk to our attorney instead,” said Oliver, his voice rising in volume. 

Meanwhile, Felicity walked around the desk to Oliver’s side and started gently stroking Oliver’s arm to calm him down. A pissing contest between Oliver and Lance was not going to do any of them any good. 

“Captain Lance, I’m sorry if we’re a little testy right now. We’ve been wrongly accused of a number of things today, and we’d like to clear the air. I’ll be happy to answer your questions,” said Felicity. “Let’s all sit down and discuss this calmly. Please, have a seat.”

All three sat down and Oliver looked over at Felicity amazed at her ability to diffuse a situation. 

“Now, Captain,” Felicity continued. “What would you like to know?” 

“Well, for starters… how the heck did you get all of Palmer’s shares?”

“I really don’t know. As you recall, a few weeks ago was a pretty intense time for us.”

“You don’t say,” Lance deadpanned.

“Well, during the midst of all that, Ray asked me to sign some papers. I figured it was just normal stuff I had to sign all the time as a VP. I honestly didn’t even see what I was signing. I was so focused on the current crisis that I wasn’t paying attention. I honestly don’t know what Ray was thinking when he did that.”

“And you were in a romantic relationship with Mr. Palmer at this time as well, correct?” 

“We had just broken up a few days before that.”

“I see. So, the two of you break up, and he gives you the company. Yeah, that makes sense,” said Lance, dripping in sarcasm. 

“Captain, it’s the truth,” Felicity pleaded. 

“No witnesses to either the break-up or the paper signing, right?”

“No. We were alone both times.”

“Tell me what you know about the explosion.”

“I don’t know much. I was out of town when it happened and didn’t even hear about it until a few days ago.” 

“Convenient. Tell me you do know what Mr. Palmer was working on before the explosion.”

“Not really,” said Felicity trying to dodge the question.

“Not really? That means you know something.”

“Well, of course, I know some of what he was doing while I was working there, but I don’t know at all what he was doing the day of the explosion.”

“Again… rather convenient.” 

“No, Captain, it’s the truth.”

“Well, what had he been working on before you left?”

She didn’t want to explain about Ray’s A.T.O.M. suit. Lance didn’t know about Ray’s other activities and she’d rather keep it that way. Truthfully, but not very helpfully, she answered, “Cogeneration, compressed hard-light beams, nanotech, quantum processors… but I can’t see how any of that could lead to a massive explosion.”

“I didn’t understand a word you just said. Can I get those in writing so I can get my science people to look those up and explain them to me?”

Felicity typed out a text to Lance while Oliver continued to look at him suspiciously. 

“So, Queen… you want to tell me where you were at the time of the explosion? I don’t suppose you’d tell me if one of your trick arrows did this?”

“I had nothing to do with this. I assure you,” Oliver replied. “I was out of town.”

“Out of town, too, huh? Both together?” Lance asked looking back and forth between Oliver and Felicity. “So, you two are an item now too, huh? Tell me, Queen, what woman around here haven’t you slept with? Scratch that. I don’t think I really want to know.”

“Captain, my relationship with Felicity has nothing to do with what happened to Palmer. We don’t know what happened, but Felicity and I are committed to finding out the truth. I promise you that.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly a fan of your promises. The only reason I haven’t arrested the both of you already is that I don’t have any hard evidence you were involved — and I still like her, for some reason. Although I’m seriously questioning her judgement right now. Queen, you have a way of blinding women to who you really are.”

“Captain,” Felicity responded, “I think you’re a bit blinded to the truth right now yourself. Even if Mr. Palmer and I were no longer together as a couple, he was still my friend. I want to know what happened to him as much as you do… probably more. I will investigate this on my own and get to the truth. I did nothing to steal his company. Freeze my bank account, if you have to. Tell me to not leave town; that’s fine. Just let me do what I do best. Let me solve this mystery.”

“Well, you’re right about the don’t-leave-town part. Looks like we’ll both be investigating this case. Better not get in my way,” said Lance, and he walked out the door. 

Instantly, Oliver and Felicity both let out a sigh and deflated a little. 

“Oliver, we’ve got to prove we had nothing to do with this. This is going to keep dogging us until we can prove otherwise.”

“Let them think what they want to think. We know the truth.”

“Do we? Not really. I never told you this, but Ray almost blew himself up one other time.”

Oliver cocked his head with a puzzled look on his face. 

“It was months ago. He had been working on the A.T.O.M. suit. Working too hard. He hadn’t slept in days, I don’t think. When I found him, he was about to do something really stupid. If I hadn’t walked in at that exact moment, he might have blown up half the building.” She paused remembering that day and, if she was being honest with herself, feeling a little guilty about what happened later that evening. “Ray… he could be hyper-focused and very driven, but sometimes would the miss the important things because he was so driven to reach a goal. He needed someone watching over his shoulder and reminding him to be safe. Once I left, there was no one to do that for him.”

“Felicity, it really isn’t your fault. You can’t blame yourself for mistakes he made. It’s not your responsibility.” He picked up her hands and held them in both of his. With love in his intense gaze, he continued. “I’m sure Ray was better when you were there with him. I know I’m better when you’re with me. You have this remarkable way of making other people better.” 

She threw her arms around him to take in his comfort. She just wanted to be held. “Thank you,” she whispered into his chest. 

“Hey, how many times have you told me you believed in me? Do you have any idea how that has sustained me through so many dark times? I knew I could be better — could defeat the darkness of our enemies — and in me — because I knew you believed I could.” 

She looked up at him with glistening eyes and gave a small smile. 

“Now, it’s my turn,” he continued. “I believe in you. You’re going to figure this out. You’re going to prove you had nothing to do with Ray’s death, and hopefully, figure out what really happened to him. He had to have left clues, and we’ll find them.” 

He wiped away a tear from her cheek as her face grew in recognition of a forming idea. 

“Clues. Yes, he didn’t just leave clues. He left notes! Ray always left notes!” She was almost bouncing with excitement.

“Weren’t those notes destroyed in the explosion as well?” Oliver asked.

“Well, yes, of course, but you forget who designed his backup system. Working with you over the years has taught me to have backups of my backups. You never know what accidents — or swords — are going to befall your primary systems. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before!”

She turned to the computer on the desk and quickly worked her way into Palmer Technologies network despite not having official access anymore. Within 3 minutes, she raised her fist in the air with a triumphant “yes!” 

“I’m guessing that’s good,” Oliver asked.

“Yes, very, very good. Not only did I find the files, but it looks like no one else has accessed these files since they were created on the day of the explosion. They’re intact and uncorrupted. No, wait. No one has opened them but someone has tried to access this folder… someone from the outside. It looks like someone did a pretty poor job of hacking into the system to get to Ray’s files. Backtracing… give me a minute…. gotcha. This IP address traces back to… Hayes Aerospace. Ugh. They’re one of our main competitors.”

“Why would Hayes be interested in Ray’s files?” Oliver asked.

“A very good question,” responded Felicity. “Oh… my…” she stopped suddenly. 

“What? What’s wrong?”

“It’s an audio file,” she sighed. “I was expecting Ray to have left written notes of his work. I was not expecting to hear those notes. Oliver, what if this audio file is Ray speaking? What if it’s his final moments? What if we can hear him dying? Oh God, I don’t want to hear that.” 

He leaned over her shoulder both to see what she was seeing on the screen, brushing his face next to hers. 

“You don’t have to listen to that. I’ll listen for the both of us,” he said sympathetically. “Can you copy those files to a flash drive or something? I can listen to them back at the loft… with headphones on.”

“Oh, Oliver… you’d do that? Thank you. If there’s anything — anything at all — that sounds out of the ordinary, you let me know. If you think there might be anything there I can analyze it for background noise, I will.”

“You’re not doing this alone,” he said as he rubbed his hand over her back. “Partners, remember?”

“Hmmmmm…” purred Felicity as she leaned into him. “I like you doing my back… uh… I mean having my back. Well, both really,” as she chuckled a little. She was still getting used to not having to apologize for her double entendres. 

“Anytime,” smiled Oliver.

Felicity pulled out a flash drive and started copying files. She copied everything that Ray had accessed in the week before the explosion. While backing out of Ray’s files and double-checking that she had found everything she needed, another name caught her eye: Elizabeth Henderson. She’s just a board member, Felicity thought, why would she need a section of the file server? Curiosity getting the better of her, Felicity scanned through the file names. They appeared to be correspondence with other board members, quarterly reports, and dividend statements. Not wanting to pry further into the woman’s personal business, she went back to looking for Ray’s files and copying them onto the flash drive. 

When she was satisfied she had found them all, she turned to Oliver and said, “I hope this is enough to prove that we had nothing to do with Ray’s death. What if it doesn’t?”

“Then we’ll cross that bridge together,” assured Oliver.

→ → → → → → → 

After stopping to pick up some takeout, Oliver & Felicity went back to the loft. Once the dinner dishes were put away, they sat in front of Felicity’s laptop with Ray’s files pulled up.

“You ready for this?” asked Felicity. 

“Hey, Palmer was a stand-up guy and he certainly helped us quite a few times, but I’m not going to get weepy-eyed over hearing his voice. I can handle it, Felicity,” Oliver said while putting the headphones on. 

“Ok… here ya go.” Felicity hit the play button on the audio file.

Oliver heard Ray say: “Had an interesting breakthrough while repurposing nanotechnology for antiviral dissemination. With the proper modifications, the nanotech can be applied to the miniaturization of key components in the suit. This will be miniaturization test number one.”  
Then Oliver heard a what sounded like a servo moving, a click and then the distinctive sound of something electronic powering down. “Why can’t anything ever work the first try?” Ray said. The next sound was an electronic whoosh and then nothing. That was the end of the file. 

“I’m going to have to write this down,” Oliver said. “It may take me a few minutes of going back and forth to get this written out. Why don’t you get a glass of wine while I’m working on this?”

“Oliver, you don’t have to protect me that much. Repeat what he says, and I’ll write it down. I can do this.”

They spent the next several minutes creating a transcript. When they reached the part when Ray said the word “miniaturization”, Felicity exclaimed, “That’s it! That’s what happened!”

“What… what happened?” questioned Oliver.

“That’s why so little of his lab was recoverable. That’s why they couldn’t find enough to piece things together. It shrunk!”

“Shrunk? As in Honey-I-Shrunk-the-Kids shrunk?” 

“Yeah… I know that sounds like fantasy… well, really… science fiction, not fantasy… ‘cuz we’re not dealing with Hobbits or dragons, just weird science-y stuff. So science fiction, but not fiction anymore. He did it. He really did it. He shrunk his lab! No wonder there was an explosion!”

“Maybe they didn’t find his body because it’s the size of a chocolate chip?” 

“Probably… Dammit, Ray. Why did you have to be so smart?”

Oliver saw it all in her eyes. One moment she was ecstatic that she had solved the mystery. The next moment she was sad and guilt-ridden again. 

“What else was there, Oliver? Let’s go on,” she said with rising sadness in her voice.

They finished the transcript, and Oliver explained the sounds he could hear. It all fit with Felicity’s theory. 

“I think this was just an accident,” Felicity said. “It makes sense and fits with what we know Ray was doing. Plus we know that Ray didn’t always take the necessary safety precautions. I think he did this to himself. Oh, if I had been there…” she trailed off. 

He pulled her into a big hug and wrapped his strong arms around her. His love and support grounded her and kept her from sinking too far into guilt. 

“We’ll take this to Lance tomorrow,” he said. “These files should clear any suspicion.” 

“I think we need more proof first. If we can go through the debris and actually find miniaturized pieces of his lab, then that will be the proof we need. At least, I hope so. I think I’m ready to get out of here again. Just too much hurt here in Starling. I’m ready for that new life… with you.”

He reached down to her chin, gently pulling it up so that her glistening eyes met his. He placed a chaste kiss on her lips, and she smiled in return. 

“Come on. Let me get that glass of wine for you,” Oliver said. “I think there’s a Texas tub with your name on it upstairs.” 

“All I need is your undying support and… maybe a back rub.” 

“You got it. Always.”

→ → → → → → → 

The next morning Oliver found Felicity awake and working at her computer. She was going through Ray’s files again. 

“You’re up early,” yawned Oliver.

“It’s bothering me that someone from Hayes has taken an interest in Ray’s work. I’ve been trying to figure out who. Looks like our hacker is a Hayes employee named Devon McMillan.”

“Should we pay Mr. McMillan a visit?” Oliver asked. 

“I doubt Hayes will let us talk to him.”

“We’re not going to ask them,” he said with a slightly menacing tone. 

“Oliver, you can’t go all Arrow-y on him. You don’t have your suit or your gear anymore.”

“I have my voice, and I know how to ask questions that get results.” Oliver paused and considered what he should do. “Felicity, I don’t want to be that guy anymore, but I will to help you. Putting a little fear in Mr. McMillan will get us our answers. You deserve answers… and so does Ray. So, what do you say to helping me break into Hayes Aerospace?”

“I say… you can take the guy out of the Arrow but you can’t take the arrow out of the guy? No… wait… that sounds just too weird, even for me.” 

Oliver chuckled and smiled, then his smiled turned a little sad as he really thought about what she had just said. 

“Well, when do you want to do this interrogation?” Felicity asked.

“Hmmm… oh,” he said as he pulled himself away from where his mind was going. “I figure we can catch him as he’s leaving work this evening. Can you figure out where he parks, what kind of car he drives and when he usually leaves?”

“Should be a piece of cake. He doesn’t hide his digital footprint very well. Why don’t you workout a little, shower and fix us some breakfast? With any luck, I should have him all figured out by the time you’re done.”

Oliver took her suggestion and headed downstairs to work out in the building’s gym. Before he had a chance to get to the door to the loft, however, Thea opened it and walked in. 

“What are you still doing here, big brother? I thought you all were going to take off again after the funeral.”

“Felicity has some things she needs to settle with her old job and Ray’s finances.” Of course, it’s more complicated than that, but he didn’t want to get into it with his sister. “I hope you don’t mind us staying here for a bit longer.” 

“Mi casa, su casa, bro. Wanna plan for dinner tonight? The three of us? I’d love to spend more time with Felicity. You know… getting to know her when our lives aren’t on the line.” 

“I’d like that,” he responded smiling. He’d love seeing the two most important women in his life getting to know each other better. 

“I miss having you around, but I really do love seeing that smile on your face now,” Thea grinned. “I know she’s the one who puts it there.”

“Yes, yes, she does… but I’m also really glad I can share her with you.” Remembering their after-work interrogation plans, he asked “Can we do a late dinner? Say, 8 o’clock? We can pick up some shawarma from that place Felicity loves.” 

“Sounds great. Enjoy your workout,” she said as she headed off to her room.

The workout was simultaneously good and frustrating. He hadn’t had a good workout since they left Starling almost 2 weeks ago. He had done some running but nothing that taxed his muscles. It was a good feeling. It was also somewhat strange. Why was he doing it anymore? Training, strength conditioning, even the salmon ladder… those were all things he did to keep his weapon — himself — in prime condition. He needed to always be prepare to do battle, but what was the point in sharpening his weapon when he had removed himself from the battle? 

Working out had always provided a way to clear his mind and to think. Maybe he was thinking too much. He found himself in this weird place of limbo. He realized he didn’t know who he was anymore. He had been a weapon for so long that he didn’t know how not to be one. He didn’t want to be one anymore. He couldn’t be a weapon and be the man that he wanted to be… for her… for them. She deserved better. 

For the past 8 months, he had convinced himself that he couldn’t be both the Arrow and Oliver Queen. He couldn’t be both a weapon and a person, a happy person. He chose to be the weapon because that was the only way he knew how to keep everyone safe. Trying to keep everyone safe, however, came at a terrible price as well: Thea’s nearly mortal wound, the loss of his relationship with Digg, and the emotional pain he inflicted on Felicity. He kept her safe physically, but he hurt her deep emotionally. He knew that.

They had only touched on it briefly during their week on the coast — each preferring to live in the moment of bliss instead of the pain of the past month — but he knew she still bore scars from that time. How could she not? Even before he knew for certain that she loved him, even before their night in Nanda Parbat, he knew that she had borne a lot of pain. 

Pushing her away had cut deep. Then, for weeks, she had lived with the belief that he had died, and when he did return, he hurt her more by aligning with Merlyn. Being the weapon meant choosing to find a way to defeat Ra’s, even if it meant going against everything she believed in. And yet, she still believed in him. How is that even possible? How did she not just turn her back on him right then and walk away forever? She stayed. It was a miracle. She may have been with Palmer, but she still stayed with the team, with the mission, with him. Of course she had been with Palmer. Oliver realized he had pushed her straight into Palmer’s arms. Any pain he had felt from that was completely on him. By pushing her away, he caused his own pain. A weapon, however, shouldn’t feel pain, so he pushed that aside too. 

Then she came to him. He still couldn’t believe that she did. They both knew that he could be lost forever in Nanda Parbat, and yet, she came to him. 

Knowing you has changed my life. You opened up my heart in a way that I didn’t even know was possible. I love you. 

Those were the most beautiful words he had ever heard. He didn’t deserve any of her love but there she was… loving him. To experience her love, both emotionally and physically, was something he never thought he deserved, never thought he could have. Another miracle. 

But he ripped that away from her too. Al Sah-Him did. Oh, the pain in her eyes when he said he was going to marry Nyssa… the fear in her eyes when he locked her and their friends in the dungeon with the belief they were going to die… How could he do that to her? The man wouldn’t. The weapon would.

What a beautiful soul that she has forgiven him for that. She hasn’t just forgiven him either. She ran away with him. She was willing to give up her job, her friends, her entire life to be with him, the man that caused her so much pain. She sees the man he wants to be for her. Somehow, she has always seen it. 

So, how could he ever be the weapon again? How could he even think he could do that? He can’t. Tonight, he’ll be different… for her. He can’t be that weapon. He’ll get the information they need — that she needs — but he won’t be a weapon. 

When he returned to the loft, he found Felicity in the kitchen standing in front of the open refrigerator. She didn’t hear him come up, and he slid up behind her to plant a kiss on her neck. She jumped and let out a little scream. 

“Oliver! Stop using your ninja skills on me! You almost gave me a heart attack!”

He chuckled, amused to see her so flustered. “I wasn’t trying to scare you. Surprise you a little, maybe, but not scare you. You really need to be more aware of your surroundings.”

“We’re in your loft — well, Thea’s loft — in a secure building. We don’t have any bad guys pursuing us right now, at least as far as we know. We’re safe.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, absorbing her feelings of security. “In fact, Oliver… hmmmm….” savoring his arms around her, “I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this safe.” 

“It’s amazing you know,” he said pulling back a little to see her better. “I kept myself a weapon to keep you safe. Now that I’m no longer going to be that weapon… now, you feel safe.” 

“I feel safe when I’m with you no matter what’s happening… even when you’re a weapon.” 

He shook his head. That was not something he was going to accept at all. “Well, I’m not anymore. We’ll talk to this guy at Hayes tonight but I can’t go all 'you have failed this city' on him. I won’t. I don’t want to be that weapon anymore.” 

“Well… let’s interrogate him my style...not yours."

“Huh?”

“I can be a bitch… with wifi, ya know,” she said as she cocked her head. 

He chuckled again. “Yes, you can,” he nodded. “I’m so glad you and your computers are on my side. It would be pretty scary being on the other side.”

“Thank you,” she smiled at the compliment. “Thank you for helping me with this.”

“Of course. Lance said don’t leave town, and I want to do everything I can to reverse that. I’m very much looking forward to you leaving town again… with me.”

“You know… you’re all sweaty,” she said with a little gleam in her eye. “You need a shower, mister, and I still need a shower too. We wouldn’t want to use up too much of Thea’s water with us taking separate showers, would we?”

“Nope. Sure wouldn’t.” He leaned down a little and kissed her. It was a kiss full of longing and hope. They retreated upstairs and lost themselves in each other.


	3. Chapter 3

Three hours later, both of them fully satiated from their shower, their breakfast and their time together, Felicity and Oliver headed to Palmer Tech. They needed to see if they could find any miniaturized pieces of Ray’s lab. They were skeptical that Lance would let them see any evidence that had already been collected. They hoped that any gatekeepers they encountered at Palmer Tech would be more helpful. 

“Carter, could you help us out?” Felicity asked while walking up to the security desk in the lobby of Palmer Tech. 

An enormous man who looked like he was built to be on a football field sat behind the desk. 

“Ms. Smoak, Mr. Queen, a pleasure to see you both. What can I do for you?”

“I left some things back in my old office, and I wanted to go upstairs and get them.”

“Ms. Smoak, your old office is a disaster area now after the explosion. I don’t think you’ll find anything.”

“Oh, not THAT office!” she laughed a little. “Of course not. There wouldn’t be anything left in THAT office. No, I know that. Yeah, I’m talking about my other office,” she lied. 

“What other office?”

“Ummm… the one that Mr. Palmer had me set up to run some tests… in the IT department… on the 29th floor… where my office used to be years ago, of course.” She was hoping her friendly relationship with Carter over the years was buying her some favor over this ridiculous lie. 

“Sure, Ms. Smoak. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help,” he said as he handed them two visitor badges. “It’s kinda funny seeing you two with visitor badges. Have a nice day.”

“Thanks Carter. You too,” she said as she and Oliver walked to the elevators. 

“I can’t believe he bought that story,” Oliver said once they were in the elevator. 

“Me neither. That was almost — but not quite — as silly as your syringe-instead-of-a-sports-bottle story.”

“Ha! You remember that?”

“How could I forget that? The look on Digg’s face confirmed what a complete BS story it was.”

“What? Really?”

“Oh my gosh, yes. He couldn’t even look at the two of us. He had to walk away. I knew he was trying hard not to laugh.”

“Well, that story was pretty bad.”

“Yeah, it’s a good thing your eyes are kind.”

“My eyes are kind?”

“That’s one of the reasons I kept helping you even though I knew you were lying to me. I knew there was a reason why someone with such kind eyes had such ridiculous stories, I had to figure it out. You know how much I have to solve a mystery.”

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened on the 29th floor.

“Wait,” Oliver said. “I thought we were going up to Palmer’s offices.”

“We are, but just in case Carter decided to pay attention to what floor we got off of the elevator, I thought it would be smart, to stop in and say hi to an old friend or two on this floor. If I play my cards right, we may actually get some good intel out of this side trip too."

"Like what?" 

"You'll see. Just hang back a little and play along when I call you over." 

"O-kay..." he responded a little confused.

They rounded the corner and came to the IT department. 

"Hey, Brittany! How ya doing?" Felicity said to the 30-something secretary for the IT department. 

"Felicity Smoak! As I live and breathe!" drawled the young lady with teased up mall hair. "What brings you back to the geeks here in IT?" She lowered her voice almost to a whisper. "I heard you left the company… even left town. Did you and Mr. Palmer have a falling out? I'm so sorry about what happened to him." 

"Thanks Brittany. Yeah, I had left town but came back for the funeral. I'm just back at Palmer Tech today to pick up something. I thought I'd stop by my old department to see how you guys were doing." 

"Awwwww... Thanks sweetie! You've always been so kind... unlike some of those geeky guys around here. Boy, I sure do miss having another gal in this department." 

"So... What's the latest news?" 

"Look at you! Asking about gossip!" 

"Well, I know you're the source of all the good stuff." 

"Awww, shucks. I just call 'em as I see 'em." 

"Any news yet about a new CEO?" 

"Nope. I haven't heard a word. I know they had TWO board meetings yesterday, but I don't know what was decided. If you ask me, I'm betting that Elizabeth Henderson is making a play for it.” 

“Really? Elizabeth Henderson, from the Board of Directors? What makes you say that?" 

"Well, I hear she's been getting very friendly with Matthew Hayes." 

"Matthew Hayes, as in Hayes Aerospace?" 

"Yep, their CEO. I hear they were in Vail together recently." 

"You don't say! Wow, that is juicy. But why would that mean she's making a play for being CEO of Palmer Tech?" 

"Well, wouldn't they be the ultimate power couple? I'm guessing there could even be a merger in our future." 

"Yeah, I suppose that could happen," Felicity said. Her head was swimming with possibilities here. If Elizabeth Henderson and Matthew Hayes really were an item -- she could figure out the truth of that online pretty quickly, she supposed -- then that could mean a merger was in the works, both private and corporately. Felicity filed that away in her brain in the stack of stuff to investigate. 

“Sooooo… what about you? Did you and Mr. Palmer really break up before his accident?”

“Yeah, he broke it off about a month ago.”

“Oh… tough break. Is that why you left town? Too painful to be around here?”

“Not exactly…” she paused trying to figure a way to steer the conversation back to what she wanted to know. “Hey, I wanted to ask you… back when I was Oliver Queen’s EA… did people really think I was sleeping with him?”

“Well, of course, sweetie! And who could blame you! You’ve seen the way that man fills out a suit, right? Hmmmmm… that is fine.” Felicity wasn’t sure whether to be offended or giggle. Yes, her man was certainly “fine” in a suit… and in suspenders… and in a tux… and shirtless… 

“Wait!” Brittany’s exclamation jolted Felicity back into the conversation. “Are you saying you weren’t?”

“No, I wasn’t. I mean, yes, I was saying that. No, I wasn’t sleeping with him. We were… we were just good friends… when I was his EA.” 

“Woah sweetheart! What are you saying?!? Are you saying you’re not just good friends now?”

“Maybe…” Felicity couldn’t believe she was doing this, but she figured she might as well control the gossip on her terms. “Hey Oliver,” she called out.

Oliver walked around the corner looking as “fine” as ever. 

“Hey Felicity, what’s up?”

“Oliver, I’d like you meet my friend Brittany. Brittany, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Oliver.”

Simultaneously, Oliver’s eyebrows went up in surprise and Brittany shrieked. 

“Boyfriend, huh?” Oliver asked slightly embarrassed. Felicity coyly grinned. They hadn’t use those terms yet, but he wasn’t objecting.

“Oh. My. Gosh.” responded Brittany. “Girl, I am SOOOO happy for you!”

“Well, it’s still pretty new, and we haven’t really gone public with this, but yeah, we’re together now. For real this time.”

Oliver stepped up beside her and put his arm around her waist claiming her. Brittany put her hands over her mouth and happily giggled like a schoolgirl. 

“Brittany, can I ask you a favor? Can you quietly spread the word that Oliver and I are together now, and we’re happy? And that we weren’t together before… when everyone thought we were. We’ve been friends for years. I don’t want people thinking the wrong thing.”

“Sure, sweetie. For you, anything.”

“Well, we’ve got to get going,” Felicity said. “Great seeing you.”

“You too!” said Brittany. As Oliver started to walk off, Brittany whispered to Felicity, “He is fine. Congratulations.” 

“Thanks,” she grinned and walked back to the elevators.

“Wanna tell me what that was all about?" asked Oliver.

“Sorry to spring that on you. Brittany is a sweet gal, but she’s also the biggest gossip I know.”

“So, why are we telling the biggest gossip you know that I’m your boyfriend?” he asked as they stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button to go up.

“Because… it’s going to get out eventually. I wanted to get it out on our terms. And I certainly wanted to clear up any misinformation from two years ago. I figured she could be a good ally in that regard.”

“If you say so. It’s not like we’re going to be around here much to draw attention at this point anyway.”

“Exactly… oh, but I DID learn some very interesting gossip from her. I don’t know if it’s true yet, but I’ll do my research to find out. It may be a piece in our puzzle.”

“And what piece is that?”

“That Elizabeth Henderson and Matthew Hayes are an item.”

“Dammit, Elizabeth. Why are you doing that?”

“Let’s wait to see if it’s true before condemning her, alright?”

“That’s probably the reason why she wanted to discredit you. Makes sense.”

“We’ll see,” she said as the elevator doors opened two floors under the executive level. “Let’s solve one mystery at a time. So, where do we find a piece of the lab?”

They took the stairs up one level and saw the caution tape at the door. Oliver protectively stepped in front of Felicity to open the door. 

Felicity and Oliver both stopped dead in their tracks. She let out a tiny whimper that she hoped Oliver didn’t hear. They knew their old offices were blown up but knowing it and seeing it were two very different things. 

It’s not like they hadn’t seen those offices take a beating before. The Hoods, the Count, Slade… they had all done substantial damage to those offices. This was different. In those cases, you could still see it was their office. Not anymore. There was a gigantic chole in the middle of the ceiling that separated the top two floors. It wasn’t like the conference table was damaged. The conference table no longer existed at all. 

Makeshift plywood and plastic sheeting covered the broken out windows. Caution tape sectioned off the really bad, unsafe areas. 

“You okay?” he asked cautiously.

“Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting to be affected emotionally over this. It’s just steel and glass.”

“Yes. But this place has been a major part of your life for two years. It’s okay,” he reassured her. “Come on,” he said sympathetically. Oliver took Felicity’s hand and led her to an area that looked safe but still had debris scattered about.

She opened her bag, pulled out a large magnifying glass and some latex gloves, and got down on her hands and knees. 

“What are you doing?” he chuckled. “You look like Sherlock Holmes.”

“Okay, Watson… how else am I supposed to find miniaturized pieces of Ray’s lab?”

“You have a point… You didn’t happen to bring two of those did you?”

“Hey, I thought I was doing pretty good finding one of them this morning.”

“Yes, yes, you did,” he smiled. Even in the midst of the scattered debris of their past life, even on her hands and knees with a magnifying glass, she looked beautiful. Funny, brilliant, gorgeous… he shook his head in amazement that she was actually his. 

“You can stop staring at my rear and can get down here to help me, though.”

“Of course,” he chuckled. “What can I do?”

“I have another set of gloves in my bag. Help me pick through the things which are obviously larger pieces of debris, bigger shards of glass, twisted metal, that sort of thing. Help me separate out the items that might actually be shrunken.”

“How big are the pieces were looking for?”

“I have no idea. I don’t know how far everything shrunk. If it was on a microscopic level, we may never find them.”

Both of them on hands and knees, they sorted through the debris. Oliver tried to keep the sharpest pieces of glass and metal away from Felicity. He was glad he could do that even if he didn’t have a magnifying glass.

“I seem to remember Scooby Doo doing this when I was a kid,” quipped Oliver.

“No, that was Scooby Dum. He was the one with the magnifying glass.” 

“Was that the little one?” 

“No, that was Scrappy Doo. Nobody liked him.”

“Yeah, I don’t know why they added him.”

“Why do television shows feel the need to add cute, short, sassy characters?” Felicity asked while still sifting through debris.

“Maybe people like cute, short and sassy?” Oliver responded and winked at her.

“Nobody liked Scrappy Doo. Nobody liked Dawn either.”

“Who?”

“Dawn… Buffy’s sister. Talking of Scooby made me think of Buffy.” 

“Oh.” Oliver said trying to piece that one together and not following her thinking. 

They sorted through the debris for several minutes when Felicity exclaimed, “Jinkies! I think I found something!”

“What?” Oliver asked sliding over closer to her.

“At first I thought this was just another piece of metal. But look…”

She handed Oliver the magnifying glass and held her hand open with the item. He looked closely at the inch-long piece of debris. 

“What am I seeing?” 

“This is a chair!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, look at it! I wouldn’t have realized it without the magnifying glass.”

Oliver looked at it with the magnifying glass and could clearly see a tiny, tiny chair. It wasn’t a toy chair either. It had caster wheels and a hydraulic lift lever. This was clearly a real office chair — miniaturized. 

“I’ve got a baggie to put it in. We’ll take it with us. Maybe we can find something else too now that we know what size we’re looking for.”

Over the next half hour, they found two more pieces of miniaturized office: a tiny filing cabinet and a tiny keyboard. This was the proof they needed. Twenty minutes later, they were walking into Captain Lance’s office. 

“We have the proof, Captain,” Felicity stated.

“Proof of what, Ms. Smoak?” Lance responded.

“Proof that it was Palmer’s experiments that got him killed and nothing we did,” Oliver said. 

“Alright… whatcha got?”

Felicity handed Lance a flash drive that contained Ray’s audio file — not the one that contained all of Ray’s files, just the audio file — and a sheet of paper with the audio transcript.

“I was able to access an additional backup of Ray’s work notes. Here is the last thing he said before the explosion. I have the audio of that on this flash drive.”

“Hmmmm…” Lance said, looking it over.

“As you can see, he was working on miniaturization. We know it worked. It just worked too well and everything went boom. 

“Come again?” Lance raised an eyebrow. “How do you know it worked, and how does that cause an explosion?”

Felicity carefully pulled out three baggies from her satchel. She handed one of them to Lance along with the magnifying glass. “See for yourself.”

“Holy crap!” Lance exclaimed and jumped back almost dropping the mini chair. “This has got to be some sort of joke.”

“Look at the wheels and the hydraulic lever. That’s a real chair. We found others too,” Felicity said as she held out the other two baggies. “If you carefully open that filing cabinet with tweezers, you’ll see there are teeny papers in there. Pop off one of the keys to the keyboard… you’ll see electronics underneath. These aren’t toys or props. These are the real things… only really, really small. Couple that with Ray’s last words, and it’s clear he shrunk his lab.”

“Okay… let’s say I believe this — I guess we’ve seen stranger things around here — how does that cause an explosion?”

“The support beams around his lab had to have shrunk too. What didn’t shrink then collapsed on itself. Boom.” 

“So how did you two find these micro-items? I can’t believe the SCPD’s CSI unit hadn’t noticed these things.”

“They weren’t looking for them. We were,” Oliver responded. “CSI was looking for bomb fragments and explosive residue, not tiny office equipment.”

“So that’s why they never found any evidence of Palmer’s body too, I guess. Too small.”

Felicity sighed, “Ray must have shrunk too. His body could be anywhere scattered in the debris. He could have been crushed by the collapsing ceiling, blown out of the building or still up there… pushed aside in the mess.” She sunk down into a chair. “He could be anywhere and nearly impossible to see.”

Oliver put his arm around her shoulder while Lance sat down in his chair, mesmerized by the miniature evidence. 

“Captain, we’ll leave this evidence with you, but we’d appreciate a report to show to the board of directors. Some of the board also thought that we had a hand in Palmer’s death. We need to clear Felicity’s name with them as well. Can we have something in writing to give to them?”

“I’ll have our science guys look this over to be sure. If everything checks out, we’ll give the board a statement.” 

“Thank you, Captain,” Felicity said with a weak smile. “Will you please ask your CSI department to comb through all the debris thoroughly? If Ray’s body is there, I don’t want it discarded in the trash. He deserves better.”

“Of course,” Lance responded. “I’ll be in touch.”

→ → → → → → → 

Being a high-tech company, Hayes Aerospace on-site electronic security system was good. Felicity was better. She was still glad, however, that their plan was to nab Hayes’s hacker, Devon McMillan, in the garage where the security was a bit easier. Getting inside Hayes’s main building with it’s pressure-sensitive floors would have required some Arrow-level acrobatics and a lot more equipment than they had at their disposal at the moment. Breaking into the car of a hacker was much easier. 

She was able to feed a loop into the security camera’s feeds so there would be no evidence of them entering the garage or breaking into McMillan’s car. Finding the right car was easy too. She knew from reviewing that same security camera footage that McMillan parked in the same general area each day. His “You Can’t Take the Sky from Me” window sticker confirmed they had the right car. Oliver had the car door opened faster than she could turn around.

All they had to do was wait.

“I don’t like this plan,” Oliver said.

“This guy isn’t going to be hard to break. Don’t worry,” Felicity said.

“It’s not him I’m worried about.”

She raised one eyebrow and cocked her head, almost daring him to elaborate.

“It’s us, I’m worried about,” he continued. “I don’t like you out in the field on a mission, and I don’t like me being on a mission either. It hasn’t even been two weeks since I said I wasn’t going to be that guy anymore… and here I am again.”

She took both of his hands into her hands and stared into his clear blue eyes. “You’re not. You’re not that guy anymore. You’ve chosen to be happy. You’ve chosen to be the real you. Putting on a ski mask and kidnapping a hacker won’t turn you into a killer again. That’s not who you are anymore.” 

He sighed and shook his head a little like he didn’t really believe her. 

She continued to reassure him. “I believe in you… and I believe in us. Let’s solve this mystery, and I can walk away with closure. Besides,” she said, lightening the tone a little, “you’re just a little muscle here to help me look more intimidating. I’ll do the hard stuff, okay?”

“A little muscle?” he huffed. 

“Ya know…” Felicity said, “last time I was in the backseat of a parked car with a guy, it was a lot more fun. Kinda hard to make out while wearing ski masks.”

“Well, last time I was in the backseat of a parked car, I was bleeding.” 

“Oh, you don’t have to remind me of that. I never did get those blood stains out. When I turned in my lease, I had to tell the dealership that it was from a hurt animal I rescued. Still don’t know if they believed me. As long as we’re together, I am never doing another lease car again.”

He laughed. “I like the sound of that.”

“What? Not getting a lease?”

“No, the ‘we’re together’ part.” 

“Yeah, I like the sound of that too.”

They heard the sound of a large metal door closing. Felicity ducked down and Oliver peeked out the back of the tinted windows. 

“That’s our guy.” 

They quietly waited in the backseat while their hacker-wannabe opened his car. He put his seatbelt on and started the car. When he looked in the rear, he saw two people in ski masks and gave a quick scream before Oliver put his hand over the guy’s mouth. 

“You don’t want to do that,” Oliver said in his Arrow growl. “We just have some questions for you. If you cooperate, you’ll be fine. Pull out of the garage, and we’ll tell you where you need to go. Nod if you agree.”

Scared out of his wits, the guy nodded. Oliver pulled his hand away and said, “Now drive.”

Ten minutes later, they pulled into an abandoned warehouse. One of the benefits of their former night job was that they were very familiar with numerous abandoned warehouses in the city. They needed a place to talk without security cameras. This one was the closest one to Hayes Aerospace. 

As soon as they came to a stop, McMillan tried to turn around to get a better view of his kidnappers. Oliver put a stop to that. “Stay facing forward.”

“What? What do you want to know?” McMillan asked, barely keeping it together. 

“We know you’ve been trying to hack into Palmer Technologies. Why?”

“Hey, man, it’s just a job. My boss asked me to do it. I don’t care about Ray Palmer’s stuff.”

“Then who does? Who’s your boss?”

“Dammit. I don’t want to get into trouble. I can’t lose my job.” 

Putting her hand over Oliver’s in a sign that she was taking over the interrogating, Felicity piped up, “Sir…” Her voice was distorted by a voice modulator like the Arrow used to use. Oliver gave a quick double-take not expecting the change in her voice. Felicity grinned under her ski mask and continued, trying to sound serious, “if you answer our questions, no one has to know about this. If you give us trouble, we’ll give you trouble. I can drain your bank accounts, fill your computers with the sound of porcupine flatulence, and you’ll never be able to remove it. And… unlike you… I’m so good at what I do, no one will ever be able to trace what happened. So, do you want to take that chance?”

“Matthew Hayesl. It was Mr. Hayes who asked me to do it,” he replied quickly.

Oliver looked over at Felicity very impressed at her interrogating skills, and, being honest with himself, he was more than a little turned on by it as well. 

“Why? Why does Mr. Hayes want to know what is in Mr. Palmer’s old files?” Felicity asked.

“They were rivals. Mr. Hayes knew that Palmer was working on some serious next-gen stuff. We have a lot of great technology but we don’t have anyone like Palmer who can think outside the box. Sure, it may have gotten Palmer killed, but Hayes didn’t want to lose that data and research.”

“So this is just corporate espionage? Hayes wants to cash in on Palmer Tech’s research?” Felicity asked. “I think there’s more. What aren’t you telling us? Shall I start draining your checking account or your mother’s?”

“No. No…” McMillan continued, “it’s more than that. Hayes is preparing a hostile takeover of Palmer Tech. He needed to see what was in the files so he could know what the company was really worth.”

“How can he do that? Who on the board would side with him? He’d need someone on the board willing to sell their shares.” 

“I don’t know. I don’t know anything about Palmer Tech’s board.”

Felicity had her suspicions but doubted McMillan would know. “Alright… do you know if Hayes is involved with anyone. Does he have a girlfriend? Mistress?”

“Yeah, I think he does. I heard him on the phone once with someone. Sounded like they were pretty close. I think he called her Liz.”

“Okay. Okay,” Felicity said trying to process it all. “We’re going to get out of this car, and you’re going to go back to your life like nothing ever happened.”

“Sure. Whatever you say,” he said, sounding very relieved. 

They got out of the car, walked through a nearby door and into an alley where they had a car waiting for them. They could hear McMillan’s car driving away through the opposite end of the warehouse. Felicity had scoped out the area thoroughly when they selected this site and knew there were no security cameras monitoring them. When they knew McMillan was gone, they took off their masks and looked at each other.

“Elizabeth Henderson,” they both said at the same time.


	4. Chapter 4

It was close to 8 pm when Oliver and Felicity walked into the loft carrying the shawarma they had picked up for their dinner with Thea. 

“Right on time,” Thea chimed. “See… you really are doing my brother some good!” she beamed at Felicity. 

They all chuckled while Thea started getting out plates, and Oliver got the wine and glasses. Felicity started unpacking the food and marveled to herself that this was really her life right now. She wasn’t just some visitor in the Queen home who came by because of “work”. She felt accepted and, in a way, part of this family. She looked over at Oliver and smiled warmly. He did that little head shake he uses when he’s almost overcome with emotions. She knew without a doubt that two most important people in the world to Oliver were in this room right now, and that he was choosing to enjoy that. 

→ → → → → → → 

After dinner Felicity went to work on unearthing all of Elizabeth Henderson’s electronic secrets. For all her skills, Felicity rarely cyber stalked anyone who wasn’t a criminal… discovering Oliver’s high school grades being a blaring exception to that rule, of course. Elizabeth Henderson’s activities lately hadn’t, necessarily, been criminal, but they were certainly unethical. The more she dug, the more Felicity was convinced that Ms. Henderson was working together with her boyfriend, Matthew Hayes, to take over Palmer Tech, and that they had been working on this long before Ray was killed. 

“No wonder she wanted us out of the way,” Felicity said to Oliver as he was getting ready for bed. “I bet she has a couple of the board members willing to do what she wants as well. It looks like she’s even hired a private investigator over the past several months. She must be digging up dirt on the other members. Oliver, we have to put a stop to this.”

He came out of the bathroom, shirtless and wearing loose sweatpants. “We will,” he said. “No…” he paused reconsidering, “you will. You’re the majority stockholder. They can’t take over without your shares. And they can’t push you out without a majority of the board on their side. Compile the evidence you need and you can force her to sell her stock. We don’t need her in our lives and Palmer Tech certainly doesn’t need her involved with the company. You’ve got this.”

“Oliver, I might be a badass with a keyboard in front of me, but I don’t know if I can be a badass in the boardroom.”

He got a wanton look on his face and said, “I know you’re a badass in the bedroom.”

She threw her head back in laughter. It wasn’t exactly the response Oliver expected. “Oliver, that’s even too corny for you.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying. So what can I do to get you to step away from the computer and come to bed?”

“You can give me a backrub.”

“That I can do,” he said putting his hands on her shoulders. She purred her approval. Minutes later she closed the laptop, and he scooped her up and carried her to bed. 

→ → → → → → → 

“Mr. Diehl, I need to call another meeting of the board,” Felicity stated over the phone the next morning. Oliver was pleased to see her with a take-charge attitude. “There is some very important information that has come to light, and the board needs to hear it,” she continued. “Can we schedule it for today or tomorrow? I’m planning on leaving town again soon, and this needs to be resolved before I go.”

Oliver looked at her impressed. Of course, he had seen her take-charge attitude many times when it came to their missions and even in the face of some of the most evil men on the planet, but this was different. In those cases, she was part of the team. This time she was being a leader on her own. 

“Yes, 4 pm today is fine with me. Please contact the other board members and make sure they can attend as well. Get back to me when you’ve heard. Thank you.”

She hung up the phone and blew out a long sigh of relief. “Watching you be CEO is completely different than trying to do this myself, ya know.”

“You did great,” he reassured her. “Badass in the boardroom as well as the bedroom,” he said with a wink. She gave him a gentle little shove in the shoulder for that remark. “I knew you had it in you,” he said.

“I don’t know… we’ll see how well I do this afternoon.”

->->->->->->

“Thank you for coming again today,” Walter Steele said to the board of directors at the afternoon meeting. “Some very important information has come to light, and you need to know.”

Several board members shifted in their seats obviously uncomfortable. Elizabeth Henderson was not one of them. The smug look on her face had not left since the last time Oliver and Felicity saw her. 

“Ms. Smoak,” said Walter, “please explain to the board your findings.”

“Thank you, Mr. Steele,” replied Felicity. She took a deep breath and steadied herself for the biggest presentation of her life. “First of all, Oliver and I know what happened to Ray Palmer. We know what caused the explosion.”

With a couple swipes of her tablet, she pulled up a picture of the miniaturized office chair they had turned over to the police and projected it onto the conference room’s display screen. 

“It’s a chair,” said Ms. Henderson, obviously annoyed.

“Yes,” responded Felicity. “It’s a chair from Ray Palmer’s lab. Now,” swiping on her tablet, “here is the same chair.” The new picture showed the chair next to a ruler obviously demonstrating the scale of the chair. 

“So, you have a dollhouse chair. Isn’t that cute? What does this have to do with anything?” Ms. Henderson sniped. 

“It’s not a dollhouse chair. It’s a real chair, with working levers and everything. Just like this is a real keyboard,” she said as she pulled up the next picture. “Notice several of the keys have been removed. You can see it has working mechanisms inside, but it’s also only 1/4-inch long. And here is a 2-inch filing cabinet, complete with paperwork inside.”

“What? What is this, Ms. Smoak?” asked another board member while the others whispered and murmured to each other. 

“This is proof… proof that Ray’s experiments with miniaturization worked. He shrank his lab… and that’s what caused the explosion,” said Felicity. “The police never found any bomb materials because there wasn’t a bomb. It was an accident.” She paused, thinking of Ray. “They haven’t found his body… because it was too small to find.”

Several board members shook their heads in disbelief. One ran his hands over his hair trying to process it all. Ms. Henderson looked perplexed and even more annoyed than before. 

“This is a report from the Starling City Police Department confirming our findings,” Felicity continued. “We also found an audio file that Ray recorded just before his miniaturization test. It confirms that’s what he was working on. I’ll email each of you the file and these pictures. You’ll forgive me if I’m not willing to play that recording for you.”

“We understand,” said Walter.

“You may have convinced the SCPD,” said Elizabeth Henderson, “but I still think that you had something to do with this, Ms. Smoak. The timing is just too suspicious. I believe you’ve been out to take control of this company for quite some time.”

“No. Sorry. That would be you,” said Felicity.

“Excuse me?”

“In uncovering the backups of backups of Ray’s files — which, by the way, I had set-up while I was a vice president for this company, thank you very much — I discovered that I wasn’t the only one trying to access those files. We were being hacked by an employee of Hayes Aerospace. I did a little more digging,” — kidnapping is really the right word, Felicity thought — “and discovered that Hayes is attempting to take over this company.”

The murmuring from the board was even louder now than it had been with the miniaturization revelation. 

“Matthew Hayes has been quietly buying up our stock,” Felicity continued. “I believe that he was attempting to hack into our files to see the value of Ray’s research. I also believe that he is working with someone here on the board.”

The board members looked around at each other in disbelief. The air in the room was noticeably charged with worry and fear.

“You wouldn't know anything about that, would you Ms. Henderson?” Felicity asked.

Shifting very uncomfortably in her seat, Ms. Henderson asked “What do you mean?”

“Stock shares. I did the math. Your stock shares combined with Mr. Hayes’s stock shares creates a 40% interest in this company. That’s why you were pointing fingers at me. You wanted to discredit me so that I would be forced to sell my stock. You would then be able to purchase enough to now have a majority.”

“And why would I combine my shares with his?”

“Because the two of you are couple. You’ve been together for months.”

The murmuring and whispers in the room grew louder again.

“I’ve found emails between the two of you,” Felicity continued. “I’ve found pictures of you together in Vail. I know he’s purchased gifts that were sent to your house. Last time I checked, business rivals don’t send each other items from Victoria’s Secret.” 

“How dare you?” Ms. Henderson huffed her annoyance at this intrusion.

“If it’s online, I can find it. You shouldn’t have set up a hidden file server on our company’s computers. Big red flag. I just had to go look at it.”

“You had no right,” glared Ms. Henderson.

“I had every right. I have been involved with this company for almost six years. I started at the bottom of the IT department. I care about people in the mailroom as well as the boardroom. I’ve seen this company from every angle, and I want it to succeed — NOT taken over by some underhanded move for personal gain. I saw Isobel Rochev do that. That is a mistake that I will not allow to happen again.”

Oliver sat there quiet but beaming with pride. The board was finally seeing the incredible and strong woman that he loved. She was ready to run this company, and he knew it. Why would she still want to run away with him, the failed CEO and damaged man?

“Well, Ms. Smoak, you have certainly given the board a lot to think about. You’ve also proven to me and probably several others on this board that you are a very capable woman and that you care passionately about this company. Personally, I think this company would be in very good hands with you as the CEO,” said Walter. 

“Oh. Well.” Felicity stumbled a little, not expecting that. “Let’s table that discussion for another day. I’m not looking for any personal gain here either. I’m also not planning on staying in Starling City at the moment. Mr. Queen and I have already made plans to be leaving the city and start over elsewhere,” she said smiling at him. 

That was a surprise. Oliver hadn’t expected that she would announce their plans to the board. She really was still planning on leaving town with him. How could he be so fortunate?

“Would you consider holding the position of CEO in absentia?” Walter asked. “You and the board could conference electronically. I believe you have the passion to lead this company no matter where you live.”  
“Wow… uh… I hadn’t considered that.” She looked over at Oliver trying to gauge his thoughts on this proposal. He smiled and nodded in return, pride obviously showing through his bright blue eyes. She took in a deep breath and said, “I guess I’m willing to give this a try if the board is.”

“One last thing I’d like to propose as interim CEO,” Walter said. “Ms. Henderson, I’d like you to resign from this board and sell your shares. I will also be contacting Matthew Hayes about his shares. If you don’t, I’ll be contacting the SEC, and you can be expecting an insider-trading investigation. I don't think you’d enjoy a stay in Iron Heights, Elizabeth.”

“Fine,” she said standing up and gathering her things. “I hope you know you’ve made an enemy today, Ms. Smoak.”

“It’s not the first time, Ms. Henderson,” Felicity retorted as Elizabeth Henderson stormed out of the room. 

All eyes shifted back to Felicity to see what would happen next.

“Well, that was a bit dramatic,” Felicity said. “I half expected her to say, ‘And I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids.’” 

Oliver stifled a giggle and shook his head in amusement. Damn, he was lucky to have her.

“Thank you, Ms. Smoak,” said Walter. “We truly appreciate you looking out for the best interests of this company. I know you’ll do fine.” Turning to the rest of the board, he said, “Unless anyone else has other business, I suggest this meeting be adjourned.” 

→ → → → → → → 

The next morning, they started packing to leave Starling City. After a week of being back in Starling, they were looking forward to getting away again. It was just too easy for both of them to get back into mission mode, and that was a place they didn’t want to be at the moment. 

Felicity sat down at the computer to check her bank account. She knew between what was left of her earnings from being VP at Palmer Tech and Oliver’s ever-dwindling, used-to-be-a-billionaire fund, they had some money. She wasn’t sure though how long that was going to last. How long could they afford to stay at that cute resort on the coast? Surely the Palmer Tech board wouldn’t be paying her much to just chat with them every now and then. Would she need to get a little part-time job to help keep them afloat?

When she logged into her bank account, she did a double take. Something must be wrong. That can’t be the right amount, she thought. Two days ago, there was a deposit of $45,000 from Palmer Tech. 

“Oliver?” she asked very hesitantly. 

“Yes?” he replied back equality hesitantly since he didn’t know what she was worried about. 

“Why did Palmer Tech put $45,000 in my bank account two days ago? What kind of weird severance plan is that? I quit. Two weeks ago. I didn’t even give two-weeks notice. Why are they paying me more than quadruple my monthly salary?”

He chuckled. “Dividends.” 

“Dividends?”

“Yeah, remember that lawyer needed your bank account info for the quarterly dividends.”

“Quarterly dividends? Oliver, I’ve gotten dividends before. My grandmother gave me stock in an electric company when I was a baby. My whole life I’ve gotten a dividend check of $78.32 twice a year. That’s what dividends are… a little extra surprise mad-money… not my mom’s annual salary once a quarter.” 

“Your grandmother didn’t give you majority ownership in a multibillion-dollar company. It’s a little different.”

“Wow,” she said as she rested her head in her hands. Looking up again, she said, “I guess I didn’t think about what that would mean financially to have Ray’s shares. So much for needing to get a little part-time job while we live at the resort.”

He came up behind her as she was sitting at the computer, and reached around to embrace her. “You were planning on getting a part-time job at the resort?”

“Yeah, I figured we’d run out of money eventually. I thought I could find something to keep the cash flowing.”

“You’re amazing, you know,” he said. She raised her head towards him with a questioning look while he continued. “You’re always looking for ways to take care of us… even before we were an ‘us’. You redid the lair, you bought me a bed… even the fern. That was you taking care of us. Now, you’re leaving behind everything in your life just so I can try to figure out who I am. With all the horrible, crazy stuff in my life, I still don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

“Hey, I like the crazy stuff in your life, well, some of it at least… not the brainwashed-by-evil-ninjas crazy… or the army-of-superhuman-weapons crazy, of course… but the everyday, trying-to-save-people crazy… I like that part.” She planted a sweet kiss on his cheek. 

“Okay,” he said obviously thinking, “you want crazy. I’ve got crazy.” He took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. “I never finished getting you that Italian dinner I promised you for our first date.”

“That was a crazy first date,” she admitted.

“How about I get you some very authentic Italian… tonight?”

“That’s not crazy at all.”

“No, going to an Italian restaurant here in Starling tonight would not be crazy,” he said. “It is crazy though… to buy you an Italian dinner… in Italy.” She giggled at the absurdity of the suggestion and then realized he was being serious. 

“Wait. What?”

“I’ll be happy to buy you dinner… in Naples… tonight…”

“Oliver…” she said, obviously taken by his charm and love.

“…but we’ll have to use some of that new money of yours to get there,” he smiled. “Crazy enough for you?” 

“Yes! That is certainly crazy.” She jumped up and threw her arms around him. “I love it. Are you serious?”

“Completely. I know this wonderful restaurant in Naples,” he said leaning down to place a quick kiss on her lips. “It’s been years since I’ve been there, but I know you’ll love it. Then we can spend the next couple weeks visiting Sorrento…” He kissed her. “Capri…” He kissed her again. “Pompeii…” and another kiss. “And oh… you’ll love the Amalfi coast.” This kiss was even longer and more passionate. When they broke, he said, “Let’s really, really get away this time. So… would you like Italian?”

She grinned and kissed him back, “I love Italian.”

→ → → → → → → 

“How do you like it?"

“Wow,” he said sort of stunned. 

"You don't like it,” Felicity’s face fell, and her bottom lip came out to pout. 

"No, no, I love it,” Oliver reassured her. “It’s short and sassy... Just like you." 

They had been in Italy two weeks, enjoying quite a few authentic Italian meals as well visiting a number of the famous sites in the area. Felicity was brought to tears at the beauty of the sculptures at the Museo Cappella Sansevero and at the horror of Ancient Pompeii. Oliver convinced her to hike Mt. Vesuvius, and Felicity convinced him go shopping with her on the Via Toledo. She loved her new shoes and even bought him a new leather jacket.

Today they were visiting Amalfi. Felicity just emerged from a trendy hair salon that catered to rich American tourists. It wasn’t until she was in the chair that she had realized she too was one of those rich American tourists now. How the hell did that happened, she laughed to herself. 

She had planned on just getting a trim to keep it looking nice. It’s not like she had had time for a haircut in the past three months. The stylist, however, in perfect English, convinced her that a whirlwind romantic getaway required a whirlwind romantic haircut. She wasn’t willing to cut it too short though. She still wanted to be able to pull it back into her signature ponytail when it was time to work, but she was willing to try something shorter. Obviously it surprised Oliver when she emerged. 

“Short and sassy, huh?”

“Just like you,” he said again.

She gave him a playful punch and then hooked her arm in his for a walk down the boulevard stretching along the sea. It was a beautiful Mediterranean summer day. Felicity took in the tangy smell of the ocean and the sweet smell of the pink azaleas.

“Felicity? Felicity Smoak?” came a voice from behind them.

Oliver and Felicity turned around to see Brittany, the secretary from the Palmer Tech IT Department. 

“Brittany! Wow!” Felicity said. 

“Well, I’ll be! How amazing to run into you two here?” Brittany said.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m here with my folks. We’re visiting my grandmother. She lives here.” 

“Your grandmother? I thought you were from Georgia.”

“I am. My mom’s from Georgia. My dad’s from here. He came to America to attend Georgia Tech. We try to come visit every couple years. What are you doing here?”

“Oliver promised me an Italian dinner,” Felicity said with a gleam in her eye.

“Oh, sweetie… you have yourself a keeper.”

“Yep. Sure do,” she said looking up at Oliver. He looked back slightly embarrassed but also proud to be claimed by her.

“Hey, can I get a picture of y’all? No one will ever believe me that I ran into y’all here.”

Oliver looked a bit hesitant, but Felicity didn’t notice. “Of course,” she said, “as long as you take one with my phone too.”

Turning to put their backs to the sea and Monte Cerreto, Oliver stood behind Felicity. He reached his strong arms around her, embracing her as she lifted up her arms to hold him. She leaned her head to the side and smiled. They both looked happier and more content than they had been in years. It was as if all the stress from the past three years had melted away. They weren’t the brawny hero and his brainy, behind-the-scenes partner. They were just two people in love. 

Brittany took pictures with both phones and handed Felicity’s back to her. 

“Well, I gotta run. Nonna wants to take us to the Museo della Carta today. It’s a museum of handmade paper. What fun…” Brittany said sarcastically. 

Felicity giggled. “Actually that does sound kinda interesting…”

“Nope. That is not what we’re doing today,” Oliver chimed in. 

“We’re not?” Felicity asked playfully. 

“Nope. We’re going to check out the boats for tomorrow’s regatta.”

“Oh! Okay, Brittany, I guess we’re gonna see some boats. Great seeing you. Give my love to everyone back in the IT Department.”

“Have fun y’all! Hope to see you back in Starling,” said Brittany as she turned to go. 

After Brittany walked off, Felicity said “Regatta? I thought you didn’t much care for boats anymore.”

“I’m getting over it. I used to love being on the water… you know, before…” he said, obviously referring to his life before the Queen’s Gambit sank. “I think I’m ready to try out boats again.”

“Okay. I’m game if you are. Who knows? Maybe I can even get you on a cruise ship one day.”

“Uh… we’ll see about that.”

They walked along the boulevard arm in arm in the direction of the pier. Some of the open-air cafes were starting to set up for lunch and the delicious smells caught Felicity’s attention.

“Have I told you that I really do enjoy authentic Italian food?” she said leaning into him. “Thank you so much for this.”

“For Italian food?”

“Yes,” she chuckled lightly. “The food is wonderful, but more than that,” she said growing serious. “Thank you for all of this… for letting yourself be happy.”

“You’ve made that easy to do. Thank you,” he smiled down at her and then got a slightly mischievous look on his face. “Ya know… I was thinking about making plans for next week… I don’t suppose you’re in the mood for some authentic French food?”

“As authentic as our Italian food?”

“Certainly,” he smiled. “And after that, maybe some authentic Greek food?”

“Ya know… I could go for some authentic Thai food as well,” she winked. 

“You ready for that?” he asked.

“Life with you, Oliver Queen, has taught me to be ready for anything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what Easter eggs did you spot in my story? I've got several in there. 
> 
> This is the first fictional writing I've done since I was 12 years old, and I'm in my mid 40s. I never would have believed that I would enjoy writing again so much. Hope you enjoyed reading it even a fraction as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> Please leave comments!!! I would love to hear what you liked and didn't like. Good comments help me get better. Thanks!!!!


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